a lovely shore breeze....: Weekend Cooking

Showing posts with label Weekend Cooking. Show all posts

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Weekend Cooking...One Cup At A Time!

I love tea.
Yes, on occasion I will drink coffee, especially if it is from my beloved Tassimo single cup coffee
maker.
But tea is my first love.
It is calming, yet invigorating.
It is hot and comforting.
As the English know, ever situation is better with a cup of tea.

I like black tea. And if possible, made from loose leaf, not bags.
I buy it online, one of life's small pleasures.

But what if your tea purchase could have a positive effect on the world?
What if it could make the lives of a few desperate young woman in a desperate situation better?

According to a report I saw on Fox News, later picked up by the Huffington Post, it is possible!
The woman trying to do that is named Katrell Christie, the owner of a small tea shop in Atlanta, Georgia. She is the founder of The Learning Tea, an organization that, through the sale of tea from India's Darjeeling region and Indian dinners held at her shop.

While it’s not uncommon for people to find a new perspective while traveling, Candler Park resident and Dr. Bombay’s Underwater Tea Party shop owner Katrell Christie found herself in India during Summer 2009 with a growing new purpose and a strong determination to help better the lives of the children she’d met while spending time at both a Darjeeling orphanage and a elementary school, one of the oldest schools in Darjeeling.

For these Darjeeling children living in poverty, education is simply the only method of rising beyond their situation, which in most cases is dire. Darjeeling is world famous for its beautiful tea gardens and flavorful teas, but it harbors a darker side as the region’s hub for forced labor and sex exploitation, as well as child trafficking and child labor. Without education, young girls are forced into prostitution in the area, or even transported to work in brothels in other regions of India when they leave orphanages at 16 or 17, with no viable alternatives in the area without a university education.
100% of the profits from The Learning Tea will fund several projects for these children.

Katrell committed herself in 2010 to fully fund the education of three orphan girls at a nearby Darjeeling university; for $800, each girl can receive one year of university education, room and board, food, and clothing; empowering them towards a much brighter future than the alternative available for the women that have left the orphanage before them. No girl from the orphanage has previously ever had the opportunity to attend higher education. It takes so little financially to make a huge difference in the life of these children. The Learning Tea is simply a catalyst for change, one cup at a time shaping their lives towards a much brighter future!

She started with those three girls, then went on to 11 young women as people in her shops gave donations and from used book sales. As you can read at their web site, they are expending as money allows, hope to open another site, providing food, clothing, a safe home, continuing education as well as computer classes, music lessons and other extracurricular activities for these desperate girls.

If I lived in Atlanta, I would certainly check out those book sales and frequent her tea shop, but since I don't, and most of you don't, what to do?
Well, if you check out the web site, you can see that Katrell is now also selling green and black Darjeeling, the “Champagne of Teas”, with 100% of the profits going toward the work with the girls. Check out the site. There is a great video, some great photos of the group of young interns helping out in Atlanta and some fantastic ones of volunteers in India.
I love those clever wrappers that will remind you exactly what your small purchase can do....One Cup at a Time!

This is my contribution this to this week's Weekend Cooking.
"Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend."
Be sure to check out the other entries this week. As always, hosted by Beth Fish Reads.

Saturday, August 17, 2013

Weekend Cooking...Bayou Birthday

Ok, it did not actually happen in the bayou.
It took place in NJ.
But it was a dish one might eat in the bayou, so close enough!

The Bro, the birthday boy, got to request what he wanted for his birthday dinner.
Seems he would have preferred a vanilla cake and got chocolate.
But it was delicious.

And somehow, something was lost in translation and his requested jambalaya turned into a creole.
Shrimp...rice...close enough!!
Once again, like a recent post, those tasty Rotel tomatoes with peppers came into play.
They were not in any recipe I saw, but I thought they would be a fine addition.
I scoured a lot of recipes and settled on one from Southern Food About.com with a touch of Emeril Lagasse thrown in for good measure.

Shrimp Creole

4 lbs medium-size shrimp, peeled, deveined

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups chopped onion

1 cup chopped celery

3/4 cup chopped green onions

2 large green pepper, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 small can tomato paste

1 can Rotel tomatoes

1/4 cup all-purpose flour mixed with 1 cup water

1 teaspoon cajun seasoning

2 bay leaves

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

hot pepper sauce to taste

salt to taste

serve with hot cooked rice

Heat oil in Dutch oven and add onion, celery, green onions, green pepper, and garlic. Cook, stirring often, 15 minutes or more until vegetables are tender. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce and paste, salt, black and red pepper, bay leaves, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and hot sauce. Bring to a boil. Mix the flour with the water to make a slurry and add, stirring well. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
Add shrimp and simmer for about 10 minutes more, or until the shrimp turn pink.
Remove the bay leaves.
Stir in parsley and serve over rice. Serves 8.

It seems like a lot of ingredients, but is really just a fair bit of chopping and prep. Then they almost all go in together, and except for some stirring, it is good to go.
And as with many dishes with a sauce like this, even better the next day when all the flavors have 'married'.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Weekend Cooking...The Pimm's Cup

Perhaps we need just one more toast to the future King George!
So today we are going to make a Pimm's Cup, the most English of all summer drinks. Since he is a summer baby, it seems only fitting.
We are going to take a look at the Pimm's Cup.
It is made with Pimm's No.1...
So what is Pimm's?
From their web site..

"London's dandiest city gents loved to partake in oysters and gin. But with its bitter tang, gin was knocked back, not savoured. Enter shellfish-monger James Pimm and his famous central London 'Oyster Bar' in 1823. Patrons soon swallowed oysters with the PIMM'S 'house cup'. Flavoured with liqueurs and fruit extract, this more palatable long drink 'gin-sling' kick-started the great British PIMM'S story."

If you are lounging by the side of the Thames with a picnic, watching the rowers go by, or looking for some refreshment between matches at Wimbledon, you may very well be drinking a Pimm's Cup.

Let us gather our ingredients...

Since it is a gin based drink, you can drink it as is, mixing it with lemonade, lemon-lime soda or ginger ale. But for a little stronger drink, you can add a shot of gin as well.
And then there is the matter of garnishes, a very important aspect it seems. According to an article in the New York Times...

"The proper garnish has long been a point of contention in Pimm’s mythology. In 1949, Jim Moran, a wily New York marketing man prone to stunts, was enlisted to raise the liqueur’s profile. He hired two actresses to stage a fight at a Manhattan nightclub over the correct garnish for a Pimm’s Cup: cucumber or mint. It made the papers.

That dispute continues in earnest today. Cucumber is commonly in the mix, though some bartenders muddle it and others don’t. Mint is often seen. But any ingredient in your average fruit salad may turn up."

So first, the basic...

My favorite version, made with the very gingery zip of Ginger Beer

PIMM'S CUP

Ingredients:

1 shot Pimm's No. 1
Fill with 7-Up
1 slice Cucumber
Twist of Lemon peel
mint

In a highball glass add Pimm's No. 1 and twist of lemon. Fill with 7-up. Garnish with cucumber slice and mint.

Just to let you know, I muddled my mint!

But now that you bought that bottle of Pimm's, are there other drinks you can make with it? Of course!!
Replace the 7 Up with Champagne and you have a Royal Pimm's Cup. Replace it with ginger ale, or even better, spicy ginger beer, and you have a Pimm's Ragoon.
But there are bartenders out there coming up with all sort of other ideas. For fans of tequila, there is the...

EL DIABLO

Ingredients:

1 1/2 ounces blanco tequila
1/2 ounce freshly squeezed lime juice from 1 lime
1/2 ounce high quality triple sec
1/2 ounce Pimm's No. 1
Ginger ale

Combine tequila, lime juice, triple sec, and Pimm’s in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain contents into a Collins glass filled with ice and top with ginger ale.

And for a drink that can extend the Pimm season past the summer, how about a cocktail with whiskey?

PIMM DADDY

"This rye-based Pimm's cocktail was created by Taylor Bense of The Post Office in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. We added a touch more lemon to our taste. Muddled cucumber adds a lovely freshness to the drink."

Ingredients:

2 half-inch slices peeled fresh cucumber
1/2 ounce simple syrup
3/4 ounce freshly squeezed lemon juice from 1 lemon
3/4 ounce Pimm's No. 1
2 ounces Rye whiskey
cucumber ribbon

In a cocktail shaker, muddle cucumber rounds in simple syrup until mixture is an even paste. Add lemon, Pimm's, and rye, and fill shaker with ice. Shake until well chilled, about 20 seconds. Strain into ice-filled rocks glass. Garnish with cucumber ribbon if desired.

Or for something quite tropical...

The Kameleon

Ingredients:

1 oz 151 proof rum
1/2 oz Blue Curacao
3 oz Pineapple juice
2 oz Orange juice
1/3 oz Pimm's No. 1

Mixing instructions: Firstly, build ingredients in the order given in a collins glass over ice. Layer the Pimms on top. It will look sort of like a traffic light. When served, stir in front of customer and it turns lime green.

I need to get some Blue Curacao.
Whichever version you try, Pimm's is a tasty liqueur and makes a light, refreshing summer drink!!

My, that goods good!

Saturday, August 3, 2013

Review of "6 Ingredient Solution" [58]

6 Ingredient Solution

by the Editors at America's Test Kitchen

Boston Common Press, ISBN 978-1936493449

August 1, 2013, 328 pages

Oh boy, my friends at America's Test Kitchen have a new cookbook out and I got my hands on a copy! So what is this one about?

"How to Coax More Flavors from Fewer Ingredients
Think it takes more than a handful of ingredients to get a hearty chicken soup, Sunday dinner-worthy roast beef, or robustly flavored spaghetti and meatballs on the table? Think again. The test cooks at America's Test Kitchen tackled a new challenge with this collection of 175+ fuss-free recipes that slash the shopping list but deliver the big flavor you'd expect. We put our ingredients to work and revamped cooking methods for everything from starters and soups to braises, casseroles, pastas, and desserts--without losing any of the flavor."

How will they achieve great recipes with just six ingredients? Well, they are a number of key points. Look Beyond the Usual Cooking Fats...like using coconut milk to fry in.
Use High Heat to Develop Flavor...searing and browning add great flavor.
Stock Up on Spice Blends..and add some new ones to your pantry like 5 Spice or herbes de Provence.
Unlock the flavors of Spices and Herbs...by, for examples, heating them in a little oil.
Discover New Uses for Store-Bought Sauces..store made pesto or BBQ to name just two.
Build Glazes for Meat with Jams and Jellies...fig jam on a pork roast or hot pepper jelly on chicken!
Rethink Pickles and Marinated Vegetables...jarred roasted peppers, Giadiniera and stuffed cherry peppers appear in several recipe. Easy and full of flavor.
Explore the International Aisle...think outside the box with curry paste or oyster sauce and many other suggestions.
Consider the Snack Shelf When Cooking...baked cheese sticks crushed as a coating for fish or chicken..crushed cookies to make a quick trifle, to name just a few.

This book is full of great, interesting recipes, from easy appetizers to quick desserts, and in between, casseroles, soups, grilled items, a big pasta section, lots of chicken, beef and pork and a nice section of vegetarian mains dishes which even tempted this carnivore. And every one with just 6 ingredients.

As always with ATK books, there are lots of great photos and the ever helpful "Why this recipe works" intro to each recipe, along with lots of tips and product recommendations.
So which recipe to make first?
There are so many...the Hearty Italian Chicken Soup with Kale and Gnocchi looks so good in the photo. That added pesto sounds like a great idea. Or how about Braised Beef with Red Wine and Cherries...yum. You get the idea...these are not Plain Jane dishes just because they have only 6 ingredients.

So I picked something a little spicy..

Spicy Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

9 ozs. fresh peeled and cored pineapple
1 small red onion
Fresh cilantro
1 (10 oz) can Rotel Diced Tomatoes and Green Chilies
1 lb. ground pork
8 Store bought taco shells (old El Paso brand recommend by ATK)

Cut 6 ozs. of the pineapple into 1/4 inch pieces and coarsely chop the remaining 3 ozs.
Finely chop the red onion and mince a 1/4 cup cilantro. Toss the finely diced pineapple, half the onion and the cilantro in a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Process the tomatoes with their juice and the coarsely chopped pineapple in food processor until smooth, about 15 seconds. Cook the remaining onions and the pork together i a 12 inch pan over medium high heat until pork is no longer raw, about five minutes. Stir in the tomato sauce and simmer until thickened, 8-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Warm taco shells as directed on package. Divide pork mixture evenly among taco shells and to with pineapple salsa.

This one was a winner, quick, easy, full of flavor and very popular with the folks! Of course, the key is the spicy Rotel tomatoes that add a big punch of flavor and a nice bit of heat. Paired with the sweet salsa and the fresh kick of cilantro it was excellent.
I doubled the recipe...so I could have some left over for my lunch this weekend..lol. And I should mention that I used ground turkey instead of pork. It was on sale! I am not usually too fond of ground turkey but with this sauce it was very good. Beef, pork or turkey..I think all would work just fine.
I also added a squeeze of lime to the salsa, because I had a lime on the counter. So maybe my version was 6 and 1/2 ingredients. As you can see, I served it with some rice with black beans. And there is that lime again....
Very good, from a very good new cookbook, and a recipe I will certainly be making again soon.
And I have so many more in this book to try.

Saturday, July 27, 2013

Weekend Cooking...Let's Try a Shandy

Today, in honor of the new wee Prince George, we are going to have a toast to his good heath and exciting future.
But what to drink for the toast?
What we need is a nice summer drink that might be consumed in the UK.

And once again, I remember a beverage from one of Peter Robinson's Inspector Banks mysteries. No less than Adam Banks himself was stopping at a pub for some afternoon refreshment, as he frequently does, and he ordered a Shandy.

"What in the world is a shady?" I said.

Well, according to Wikipedia..."A shandy, or shandygaff, is beer mixed with a soft drink, carbonated lemonade, ginger beer, ginger ale, or apple juice. The proportions of the two ingredients are adjusted to taste, usually half-and-half."

I must say, as a person who likes beer, this sounded vile. But I needed to do my research! As always, just for you my dear readers.

So off I went to the liquor store to get some supplies for my test.
There are a large number of bottled shandys, so I bought a couple of them and then some regular beer..many sites suggest a white wheat beer to mix with lemonade to make a 'homemade' version. Then I threw a ringer in, with a beverage from the Evil Bud Beer Company, the Bud Light Lime-a-Rita, sort of a mixture of beer and margarita. Hmmm..

So, how did the taste test go? First, the bottled shandys.

The first one I tried was the Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy.
Their site describes it like this..."Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy is crisp wheat beer brewed with natural lemonade flavor which makes it a perfect summertime refresher for those sun-splashed summer days."
It does seem very popular by the amount the store had on hand, in bottle and cans. It did certainly taste like lemon, I will say that.
It smelled like beer and tasted like fake lemon. Odd.

Next I tried Tenacious Travelers Shandy which says it is "a ginger shandy—the perfect combination of spice and sweetness!"
OK, I think I missed the ginger part.
Tasted OK, but nothing to write home about.

So, lets try a homemade shandy! 1/2 lemonade...half beer. And by far the best. Lemony in a nice way and yet still a flavor of beer. So IMHO, if you want to explore the shandy world, make your own as the first try.
Quick, easy, cheap.

And finally, what of this Lime-a-Rita?
I will say, I expected to hate it.
And I did not.
It is tasty. Sweet. Not quite a margarita, not at all a beer, it's a malt beverage flavored to taste like a margarita.
If you like Mike's Hard lemonade you may like this. It is similar with a bit more fizz.

BUT...do not be fooled but the "Light" on the label. This is a sugar packed drink, contains 8% alcohol by volume with 220 calories and 29.1 grams of carbohydrates per 8oz serving.
So that 24oz can they sell would have 600 calories! And at 8% ABV, that is a lot of booze.

So, what did I finally decided about this whole shandy issue?
Personally, I doubt I will drink any of them again.

When I want a beer, a want a beer.
When I want Lemonade, I want lemonade.
And when I want a delicious, icy cold Margarita..well, you get the idea!

Still, I do have three more cans of that Lime-a-Rita in the fridge..and I hate to waste...

Saturday, July 20, 2013

Weekend Cooking..A Mess, a Big Eton Mess!

I am really not a great dessert person, but I distinctly remember two I loved. Oddly, both were eaten in Ireland.
One was a Sticky Toffee Pudding that I had one chilly rainy day, all alone, in a restaurant in Dingle Town.
The second was a Pavlova that I had in a hotel restaurant in Waterford after touring the Waterford Crystal factory. I had never had it before but I was sold! It was a layer of baked meringue, a layer of whipped cream and then topped with fruit. Delicious and a rather common special dessert in Ireland, as I was to come to find out.

But the English have their own take on that combination, fruit, meringue and cream, which goes by the lovely name of a Mess. Oh Wiki, tell us about it....

"Eton mess is a traditional English dessert consisting of a mixture of strawberries, pieces of meringue and cream, which is traditionally served at Eton College's annual cricket game against the pupils of Harrow School. The dish has been known by this name since the 19th century. According to Recipes from the Dairy by Robin Weir, who spoke to Eton College's librarian, Eton mess was served in the 1930s in the school's "sock shop", and was originally made with either strawberries or bananas mixed with ice-cream or cream. Meringue was a later addition, and may have been an innovation by Michael Smith, the author of Fine English Cookery. An Eton mess can be made with many other types of summer fruit, but strawberries are regarded as more traditional."

The first time I ever heard of this dish was in an article about Prince William at the time of his marriage, how a so-called Eton Mess was one of his favorite desserts. In one ear..out the other...until I came to buy a big container of very ripe strawberries at Sam's Club this week and needed something to make. That very night I happened upon an article by David Levovitz about how he had all these cherries and decided to make a Mess, in his case a Cherry Mess. Then that very night I was reading a book, set in England, and the dessert at a banquet the hero attended was an Eton Mess.
It was kismet!! A Mess it would be!! But not too messy a Mess...

Finished meringues...

If you can buy pre-made meringues as many recipes call for, that's good. They are not available in my supermarket sadly, but they are easy enough to make.
I love David's addition of the candied almonds to the dish.
First, I love almonds.
Second they add a nice crunch.

Eton Mess
Adapted from David Levovitz's Cherry Mess

For the fruit
4 cups strawberries...or fruit of your choice
1 tablespoon sugar
A few drops almond extract

Hull and chop the strawberries and put into a bowl, add the sugar and leave to macerate while you whip the cream.

For the candied almonds
1 cup sliced almonds
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon water
A pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 325ºF. Spray or lightly coat a baking sheet with vegetable oil. Heat the water and sugar in a skillet until it starts to boil. Remove from heat and stir in the almonds and a pinch of salt, until well coated.

Scrape the almonds onto the baking sheet, break up any large clumps, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring once or twice during baking so they toast evenly. Remove from oven when golden brown and crisp, and let cool completely. Store in an air-tight container until ready to use.

Almonds ready to go into the oven for a few minutes..

For the meringues
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon almond extract

Reduce the heat of the oven to 225ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a clean, dry bowl, or with a stand mixer, whip the egg whites on medium-high speed with a pinch of salt until they start to hold their shape. Add the sugar a tablespoon at a time, while continuing to whip, until it’s all incorporated and the meringue is stiff and shiny. Whip in the almond extract.

Divide the meringue into 6 mounds on the baking sheet, then flatten each one into a disk with a spatula or the back of a spoon. Bake the meringues for 1 1/2 hours, then turn off the oven and let the meringues continue to remain in the oven with the door closed, to dry out further, until they are cool.

For the whipped cream
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar

In a chilled bowl, whip the cream until it holds its shape when the lift the whisk. Whip in the sugar until the whipped cream is thickened, but not too stiff.

The parts, ready to assemble.

To assemble the desserts...
Choose four wine glasses or other vessels. Spoon some of the fruit in the bottom of each glass with a little bit of the juices. Crumble 3 or 4 of the meringues into rough 1-inch pieces and fold them into the whipped cream – the cream should be pretty-well riddled with meringue pieces. Spoon some of that mixture over the fruit in the glasses and add a bit of candied almonds over the cream.

Continue to layer each glass with more fruit, a bit of their syrup, more cream with crumbled meringues in it, and a few candied almonds, however you wish, ending with a few berries and some of their syrup on top. Sprinkle each mess with a scattering of candied almonds and serve.

It seems like a rather long recipe, doesn't it, but each step is quite simple. And if you are serving for guests you can, if you wish, made all the parts... the fruit, the almonds, the whipped cream, the meringues... ahead, and just assemble right before serving. I must say, for me, the highlight of this dessert is those candied almonds. All the rest is very nice, especially the nice bits of the meringues in the whipped cream, but the little crunch of the nuts is excellent. An easy, delicious dessert and I suggest you make in in honor of the soon to be born new little British Prince or Princess!!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Weekend Cooking...The Better Burger

Gee, I hope I did not post this before, but if so, for me.
Because I love a good burger.

I don't eat that many of them, but when I have one, I want a good one!
No MickeyD!
No preformed supermarket burgers of questionable origins.

No, fresh ground chuck, seasoned to perfection, just the right size, cooked on a hot grill.

I love rare beef, but honestly, even if I ground the beef myself, I prefer to eat my burgers fairly well done.
But how to keep them from drying out, turning into a tough, hockey puck?
Well, my friends at America's Test Kitchen have an answer and now it is the only way I make burgers.

I replace the salt and pepper with...salt, pepper, cumin, turmeric, garlic..

The idea is to make a 'panade', a mixture of some fresh bread, a touch of milk, some seasonings, mush it all up into a paste and add the beef, mixing well. It is little enough that I promise you will not know it is in there, yet it is enough to keep the burger juicy no matter how well done it is.
And delicious.

Ingredients

1 large slice high quality white sandwich bread, crust removed and discarded, bread chopped into 1/4-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)
2 tablespoons whole milk
3/4 teaspoon table salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium clove garlic, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 1 teaspoon)
2 teaspoons steak sauce
1 1/2 pounds 80 percent lean ground chuck

Oh, my..that looks good!

Instructions

Mash bread and milk in large bowl with fork until homogeneous (you should have about 1/4 cup). Stir in salt, pepper, garlic, and steak sauce.
Break up beef into small pieces over bread mixture. Using fork or hands, lightly mix together until mixture forms cohesive mass. Divide meat into 4 equal portions. Gently toss 1 portion of meat back and forth between hands to form loose ball. Gently flatten into 3/4-inch-thick patty that measures about 4 1/2 inches in diameter. Press center of patty down with fingertips until it is about 1/2 inch thick, creating slight depression in patty. Repeat with remaining portions of meat.
Add meat patties, indentation side up, and cook until well-browned, about 3 minutes. Using wide spatula, flip burgers and continue cooking, about 3 minutes for medium-well or 4 minutes for well-done. Distribute equal portion of cheese (if using) on burgers about 2 minutes before they reach desired doneness. While burgers cook, toast buns. Serve on buns with desired toppings.

You can cook these in a skillet on the stove, which is good, but if possible they are even better on the grill.
Be sure to do that indent thing. When cooked, you will have a nice even, flat burger.

Toasted roll.
Cheese.
A little romaine lettuce.
Grilled onion.
Roasted peppers.
Pickles on the side.

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Weekend Cooking...Patriotic Desserts

Ok, I am a little late for the 4th of July, but what can I say. I was too busy cutting out all those watermelon stars and poking my cake to write about it!

The idea for the patriotic poke cake I saw online somewhere recently and thought it just looks so festive. But I did not save the link, so I just googled it and went for a recipe from Cooks Country..which is an offshoot of my friends at America's Test Kitchen. It is a cake, that as the recipe says is "a Patriotic Poke Cake that screamed red, white, and blue all the way through."

Patriotic Poke Cake

Ingredients

1 cup blueberries

2 tablespoons berry-flavored gelatin

1 1/4 cups water, divided

1/4 cup sugar, divided

1 1/2 cups strawberries, hulled

2 tablespoon strawberry-flavored gelatin

2 (9-inch) baked white cake rounds, cooled completely and still in pans

4 cups lightly sweetened whipped cream or a container of Cool Whip

Instructions

For the blueberry and strawberry syrups: Cook blueberries, 3/4 cup water, and 2 tablespoons sugar in medium saucepan over medium-low heat, covered, until blueberries are softened, about 8 minutes. Strain through fine-mesh strainer into medium bowl; discard solids.
Whisk berry-flavored gelatin into juices and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.
Repeat cooking and straining using strawberries, remaining water, and remaining sugar. Whisk strawberry-flavored gelatin into juices and cool slightly, about 15 minutes.

Using skewer, poke 25 holes in top of each totally cooled cake layer, twisting gently to form slightly larger holes. Pour cooled blueberry syrup over 1 cake layer. Repeat with cooled strawberry syrup and second layer cake. Cover cakes with plastic wrap and refrigerate until gelatin is set, at least 3 or up to 24 hours. Run knife along interior of pans. Invert blueberry cake onto wire rack, then flip cake right side up onto serving platter. Spread 1 cup whipped cream over top. Invert strawberry cake and place, right side up, on whipped cream. Spread remaining whipped cream over top and sides of cake. Slice and serve.

I made a few changes, of course.

First of all, because I was busy and because I had one on the pantry shelf, I used a white boxed cake mix. I added just adding one extra ingredient to it, a cap full of fiori di sicilia. "In English, the Italian ""fiori di Sicilia"" translates as flower of Sicily. While this flavor is often described as a combination of vanilla and orange, it is actually a delightful floral extract...can be used in cakes, cookies and ice cream. In Italy it is used to flavor traditional panettone and other baked goods."
I love this stuff. As you can see I got mine from King Arthur and although it is expensive, a little goes a long way and it will last a long time.

And I used some frozen raspberries from my garden that I had in the freezer rather than strawberries and I used cherry Jello, because I had some. Then I used blue raspberry Jello for the blueberries. I took some fruit and Jello liberties, but it was all fine.
And I look the easy way out and "iced" it with Cool Whip, as every other recipe I saw did, rather than the real whipped cream Cook's Country used.
This cake was, I must say, delicious, light and fruity. You will forgive that photo of the cake. I was icing it as the folks were waiting for dessert and they were getting loud and I feared a revolt if I fussed with it.

For another dessert choice, I made a fruit salad of watermelon, fresh pineapple and blueberries.

But I gave it a festive 4th of July twist by cutting the watermelon into stars. I just cut the whole melon into slices about 3/4" thick and then cut the stars out a cookie cutter. A little time consuming, but I was channeling my inner Martha Stewart.
And the result was so cute!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Weekend Cooking...A Tonic for the Blazing Heat of Summer

They say that 2013 is the Year of the Gin and Tonic.
The they in this case is the New York Times, so it must be true, right? Well, about this, maybe.
So if this is the year of the G&T, I must be part of it.
This is important enough to do a little gin and tonic study, followed by the required taste test.
Of course, I do this only for you, my dear readers, so I can share the results of my study.
I do it only as a scientific experiment, of course. ;-)
No thanks are required.
But still appreciated!

So, where does this drink, the G&T, come from, the mixing of quinine tonic water and gin?
Funny you should ask...and of course...our friends at Wikipedia have an answer...

"Quinine is an effective muscle relaxant, long used by the Quechua, who are indigenous to Peru, to halt shivering due to low temperatures. The Peruvians would mix the ground bark of cinchona trees with sweetened water to offset the bark's bitter taste, thus producing tonic water...

Quinine has been used in unextracted form by Europeans since at least the early 17th century. It was first used to treat malaria in Rome in 1631. In the years that followed, cinchona bark, known as Jesuit's bark or Peruvian bark, became one of the most valuable commodities shipped from Peru to Europe. When King Charles II was cured of malaria at the end of the 17th Century with quinine, it became popular in London. It remained the antimalarial drug of choice until the 1940s, when other drugs took over...

Quinine is a flavour component of tonic water and bitter lemon. On the soda gun behind many bars, tonic water is designated by the letter "Q" representing quinine. According to tradition, the bitter taste of antimalarial quinine tonic led British colonials in India to mix it with gin, thus creating the gin and tonic cocktail, which is still popular today in many parts of the world, especially the UK, United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand."

It is certainly a popular summer drink, refreshing on a hot summer day. And usually it is a simple affair. Grab a glass, filled with ice. Pour in some gin, some tonic water, perhaps a slice of lime. Stir and drink. Which is fine, but could it be better?

First, there is the gin. I will admit I had no gin, so a short trip to the liquor store was in order, where I faced a large selection of gins. Not as many as the vodka selection, which was HUGE, but still a lot. So I went with one I had never heard of but had a rating of 95 from some wine magazine. We will skip why wine magazines are rating gins..But feel free to use your favorite gin if you have one. If not, I would not buy the cheapest, or the most expensive, just one in the middle and go from there.

Iris flavored..really

Saffron Infused Gin...I think not.

But then there is the tonic water, which some folks think could be replaced with something better. In this case, a small batch quinine syrup. Cane sugar to replace the high fructose corn syrup, all the spices and color of the cinchona bark and the ability to add as much or as little as you like, topped off with bubbly water. So I had to get my hands (yes, Amazon carries it) on a bottle of Tomr's Tonic.

"I worked on this recipe for quite a while until I hit on the perfect batch," says Tomr's creator Tom Richter. His blend of cinchona, sugar and organic herbs, spices and citrus is vibrant and bright. Mixed with gin and sparkling water, it's sublime. The light orange-amber color may come as a surprise initially, but one sip and you'll likely be converted. "A lot of first-time customers say, 'I don't really like gin and tonics, but I really like this drink," says Richter. In addition, he says cinchona grown in different parts of the world impart distinctly different flavor profiles, opening up the possibility of terroir-influenced G&Ts."

I had to look up terrior, a term, it seems, usually related to wine. "Terroir is the set of special characteristics that the geography, geology and climate of a certain place, interacting with the plant's genetics, express in agricultural products such as wine, coffee, chocolate, tomatoes, heritage wheat, cannabis, and tea. The concept has also crossed to other products such as cheeses." And tonic syrup!

That quote is from an article about the Gin and Tonic at AskMen and they also give what they think is the perfect G&T recipe.

A cute little cocktail book recently reviewed by BethFish

The Perfect Gin and Tonic

2 oz. London Dry or Plymouth Gin
1 oz. Tomr's Tonic (or your own tonic syrup)
Perrier or Pellegrino (lime-flavored works nicely)
2 dashes bitters (lemon, Angostura or Hella Bitter Citrus)
Fresh lime wedge

The Tomr's G&T

1 oz. Tomr's Tonic
2 oz. Gin
3 oz. Club soda

Fill a highball glass with ice.
Add tonic, gin and club soda.
Stir...Drink...Repeat.

Like that New Amsterdam bottle!

So, how did that taste test go.?
I had no bitters...and forgot them at the liquor store...so I could not make the 'perfect' one. I really should have done this at the Bro's. He has a very well stocked assortment of alcohol related materials. But I did make a traditional Tonic water and gin one and the Tomr's/gin/bubbly water version, both with some lime.

Of course, they look different. I must say, I like the clear one but it really makes no difference.
As to taste...well, they are both good, but different. If I had to pick, I would definately go with the Tomr's. It is quite tasty, much, much more interesting than the tonic water, but it is still the gin that stands out. I do like that juniper berry taste.
If you are a fan of the G&T, I really think you have to give this a try!

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